Texas BlogWire

December 30, 2006

Aquifer Guardians in Urban Areas (AGUA), a San Antonio-based group interested in the protection of the Edwards Aquifer and the land that feeds it, has recently filed a lawsuit charging that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have violated the Endangered Species Act by permitting the construction of an electric transmission line through Golden-cheeked Warbler habitat in northwest Bexar County. Golden-cheeked Warblers are an endangered bird that nests exclusively in central Texas.

In particular, the suit claims that the biological opinion prepared by the Service did not follow federal rules and that the cumulative loss of Golden-cheeked warbler habitat has not been fully and fairly considered. The suit asks that the permit decision be set aside and that a plan be developed and implemented to set aside enough acreage to protect the warbler.

AGUA also reports that "Much of the local habitat has already been eliminated due to suburban developments, especially in the area from Austin to San Antonio." Living in this area, the truth of this is self-evident to me, as I see more and more sections of Hill Country terrain bulldozed and scraped to bedrock every week. It is extremely painful to watch — the slow-motion death of the land we have come to love.

This destruction of land is likely to bring with it the degradation of the principle water source for this entire area, the Edwards Aquifer, as the runoff from this land is what feeds the aquifer. This is the reason that a group like AGUA is concerned with habitat for an endangered bird. AGUA President Enrique Valdivia was quoted in the Express-News last week: "We believe that the warbler is an indicator of the health of the environment and the Edwards Aquifer. Our focus is really to protect the Edwards Aquifer."

December 28, 2006

During a time when most people are enjoying the holidays, Texas Republicans are engaging in a very interesting power struggle. The prize is to become Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

The current holder of that office, Tom Craddick of Midland, got that job after the Republicans took control of the Texas House in 2002 following the 2001 redistricting. In the ensuing four years, he has perhaps been the single most powerful individual in Texas politics, including leading Tom DeLay's divisive drive to re-redistrict Texas' congressional districts in 2003. Craddick's harsh and autocratic rule over the House has apparently made him some enemies, even amongst his own party. And now with the GOP's margin in the House shrunk by serveral seats after the November elections, two fellow Republicans, first Brian McCall and now Jim Pitts, are trying to oust Craddick from his position.

McCall, from Plano and apparently quite conservative, appears to be the favorite candidate of most Dems in the legislature, based on his alleged fairness.

Vince Liebowitz at Capitol Annex suggests that Pitts, who just jumped in today as McCall's candidacy appeared to be taking off in the last couple days, is the "Craddick-subsitute" candidate: "the same far-right wing ideals and uber-conservative establishment credentials without most of the baggage (and respected by more Democrats)." Charles Kuffner, though, says, "All I've heard about Jim Pitts suggests that he'd be as good an alternative as McCall would be. If he can get over the hump, he'd be fine by me."

As Craddick's rule has only been good from the vantage point of DeLay-style, corrupt, special-interest, viciously-partisan politics, the ouster of Craddick would, in principle, be excellent news for the citizens of our state. Hopefully the "in principle" will eventually translate to "in practice."

Republican Rep. Jim Pitts of Waxahachie, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said in an interview today that he is challenging Speaker Tom Craddick, becoming the third member to declare his candidacy. Craddick, meanwhile, insisted he held a decisive lead against his two declared opponents and released a list of 84 members he said reconfirmed their support for him.

The question of who supported whom appeared Thursday to be the most-hotly disputed issue of the race.

Pitts said he told Craddick that he "didn’t think (Craddick) he could get the numbers that he needed (to be re-elected as head of the House). I don’t think Brian (McCall) is getting the numbers. And I’ve got a consensus group that has asked me to run," Pitts said in an interview minutes after he mailed his paperwork for the race.

December 22, 2006

One of the side effects for me of Ciro Rodriguez's campaign for Congress in the last month was that I discovered a bunch of progressive Texas blogs that are either new or that I had somehow missed, especially after not being able to write much in recent months. I have some serious updating to do to the blogroll!

Right here in San Antonio, there is Dig Deeper Texas. Their description of themselves and their blog's purpose: "A group of moms in and around the San Antonio area who are tired of biting their tongues because we don’t think 'liberal' is a bad word. We are intent on informing our friends and neighbors how they have been led astray from their own values and hope to make a difference one blog entry at a time." They look to have just gotten started at this in October. They are a welcome addition to the San Antonio progressive blog scene and hopefully will be around for a while.

Also, nearby there is The Kendallian, another group blog, based in Kendall County, on the outskirts of the San Antonio metropolitan area. "This blog is for Democrats who want a safe place to go to learn about happenings in Kendall County, Texas; Washington, D.C.; and the world!" They appear to have been around for nearly two years, so I have been remiss in not finding them earlier.

Finally, there is Walker Report. I found this new San Antonio blog offline, of all places, as we met Mr. Walker himself at Ciro Rodriguez's talk in Shavano Woods two weeks prior to the runoff election. Walker used to blog for the Bexar County Democratic Party apparently, starting up over the summer, but went independent just recently. He did a great job of documenting the Rodriguez campaign in photographs.

Of the old hands, Mike Thomas at Rhetoric and Rhythm is still going strong, as are Cernig at Newshog and Sean-Paul Kelley at Agonist, the latter of which has been showing up more and more on local radio recently.

I've also found some excellent new blogs from other parts of Texas. The most notable for me is Musings, based in the Houston area. I found Musings because they were so quick as to put up a post pointing to my two videos from the Clinton GOTV rally of December 10 virtually as soon as I had uploaded them to YouTube and before I had even figured out how to include them in a post at my own blog. It turns out that not only are they quick, but they are one of the best Texas politics blogs around — I'm glad I finally found them.

Of course, there are several other worthwhile progressive Texas blogs that I'm just starting to familiarize myself with. So I plan to have another blog update post soon.

Meanwhile, if anyone knows of any San Antonio or Hill Country progressive blogs that I haven't found yet, please let me know. Trying to find them by using internet search tools is frustrating, although it did lead me to discover that my own blog is listed as #5 of the "Top 6 Blogs about San Antonio" on About.com — quite an honor!

December 20, 2006

The universe has now been without Carl Sagan for ten years. In honor of this man's enduring influence, blogger Joel Schlosberg is promoting a Sagan blog-a-thon, which I discovered only last night via Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy Blog. Since Sagan's thoughts had a profound influence upon me during my formative years, I could hardly let this pass without joining in, at least in a small way.

My obsession with all things astronomical pre-dated my introduction to Carl Sagan's writings by many years. Despite this, I had to be goaded into watching his 13-part Cosmos by my mother when it first aired. As I recall, this pre-teen was already jaded by the hype surrounding the show and naively believed that no mere popular show could be worthwhile for a self-proclaimed expert like me. The show was already several weekly episodes old before I gave in. I was immediately hooked — and immediately humbled.

Sagan's knack for communicating the wonder of the universe went beyond any single field of science, which makes him unique amongst modern science popularizers. He could talk about the the formation of the known universe and the spectacle of the Big Bang, effortlessly glide into discussions of the puzzles of the human brain, then take off again into the realm of cells, genetics, DNA and the ultimate mystery of life itself. Amidt this, he would remind us of the potential nuclear holocaust that for so long threatened to extinguish all these wonders on this tiny planet — this "pale blue dot."

Sagan would never let us forget how awe-inspiring the universe is and our miniscule place in it. But he would also never let us forget the joy and wonder of our existence. His presence is missed, but his influence will live on for a long time to come.

December 19, 2006

How will our state parks fare in the upcoming session of the Texas legislature? After years upon years of neglect and decreasing budgets, the dismal condition of our state parks system finally received major attention last summer, thanks, in part, to the four-way gubernatorial campaign. But will that recent attention translate into actual dollars next year? Or will state parks, once again, get pushed aside by other priorities and the GOP ideology of privatization?

Perhaps the Texas State Railroad's example provides an outlook into what will happen with the rest of the park system. Three weeks ago, the Dallas Morning-News reported:

To the relief of many East Texans, the death knell for the Texas State Railroad was temporarily silenced Tuesday [November 28] when state park officials announced that additional funding will continue operations for a few more months.

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But the long-term future of the popular tourist railroad is still precarious, depending on whetehr legislators decide to fund future operations, convert the engines and cars into a static display or arrange for private operations.

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Still, the emergency funding identified by Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and speaker of the House Tom Craddick in a letter to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is "wonderful news for the railroad and the state of Texas and our local community," said Steve Presley, a Palestine city councilman who chairs the Texas State Railroad Preservation Task Force of the emergency funding.

"Everyone will be extremely pleased that we've got it temporarily saved -- that was our first big hurdle to jump. The next big hurdle is for us to get that legislative support to save it long term."

Could this additional funding for the State Railroad be a presage of things to come for the rest of the state parks system during the upcoming legislative session? Rep. Sid Miller (R-Stephenville) has already filed a bill to allocate all of the revenue from the sporting goods tax, about $100 million per year, towards state and local parks. Currently, the legislature has the amount of this revenue used for parks capped at a mere $32 million per year, and the actual amount allocated for parks recently has been significantly less than even thatr reduced amount.

If this bill is passed, it would amount to a much needed cash infusion into our parks that would go a long way to re-building a system that Texans can be proud of.

From 1990 to 2003, according to the report of the State Park Advisory Committee earlier this year, spending on Texas state parks dropped from 0.40% of the state's operating budget to 0.15%, leaving Texas 49th in the nation in per capita spending on state parks. The direct results: "layoffs, partial closings," reduction of maintenance and curtailment of park programs." The indirect results: "significant economic hardships on local communities and regions," and "a lack of confidence in the quality and availability of the park system that is impacting our tourism industry."

Here in San Antonio, Government Canyon State Natural Area was finally partially opened to the public a year ago, after at least six years where its opening was supposed to be a year or two away. Even now, it is still closed Tuesday through Thursday, camping is not available, and Friday to Monday hours are only from 8 AM to 6 PM. And this is a large, stunning, showpiece park immediately outside a major population center.

This bleak situation may be about to change, fortunately. The Waco Tribune wrote on Friday:

Few agencies made the switch from fleeting afterthought to high priority for the legislative session in January as fast as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which expects a major funding boost for the first time in many years.

Indeed, Rep. Miller is optimistic about the restoration of the full allocation of the sporting goods tax to parks, according to a late November interview at the blog Capitol Annex: “We’re going to do it. I don’t know if it will be my bill or someone else’s, but we will do it."

Until they do 'do it,' however, the crisis continues. According to the State Park Advisory Committee's report, "Every day that passes without action leads to further deterioration of park infrastructure, loss of historic resources and dissatisfied customers. The time for action is now."

December 18, 2006

Back in 2005, San Antonio voters approved an extension of a 1/8-cent sales tax to be used to purchase land in the recharge zone for the Edwards Aquifer. The goal is to prevent over-development of that land and thus preserve the quality of the water in the underground reservoir that supplies the vast majority of this city's water.

It's some of the most picturesque land around this sprawling city: 116 acres of craggy, oak-covered hills near the Government Canyon State Natural Area.

The city bought the acreage in September with nearly $1 million in taxpayer funds — not for parkland but to shield it from development and preserve its role in replenishing the Edwards Aquifer.

The tracts were the first of many being acquired with proceeds from a one-eighth-cent sales tax approved by local voters last year to raise $90 million for water-related land conservation. Most of the acquisitions are likely to be in recharge zone areas of rural Medina and Uvalde counties, where land is cheaper than in heavily urbanized Bexar County.

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"This is one of the largest, most significant conservation projects in the entire state right now," said Deirdre Hisler, who leads the city advisory board implementing Proposition 1.

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Rather than buy land, the city prefers to seek easements that impose restrictions on the owners' use of the property but keeps it on the tax rolls.

"We only deal with willing landowners that are willing to be a part of the program," and there is no shortage of interest, Hisler said.

...

Jeff Francell, director of land protection at the Texas Nature Conservancy, said San Antonio's initiative "is going to have a major impact in the future on water quality, on protection of the aquifer and sprawl, to some degree."

By seeking easements in Medina and Uvalde counties, "we're going to be able to protect tens of thousands of acres with the $90 million," Francell said.

"We're talking about land that is in the $1,000-$3,000 an acre range rather than in the $20,000-$50,000 an acre range in Bexar County," Francell said.

The effort should benefit anyone who visits, not just San Antonians, he said.

"A lot of Houston hunts in this area. Just keeping it open for wildlife is an added benefit," he said.

This effort is just one small part of what will be needed to ensure that our quality of life in south and central Texas is preserved in the decades to come.

Off the Kuff also comments on this article, taking issue with the Texas Nature Conservancy's Francell's comment, "The state parks don't have two cents to rub together now. Private buyers are the only hope."

Kuffner writes, "Restoring, or in this case not restoring, those cuts [to state parks budget], is also a choice. Maybe that's a choice you agree with, but it's still a choice. We could choose differently, and that's why Francell's statement about private trusts being the "only hope" is wrong."

I agree that Francell's statement is wrong, but only because he left out local initiatives such as San Antonio's Proposition 1. At the state government level, I believe Francell is on target, even given the likelihood of increased state parks budgets in the short term (a subject I will be posting about very soon).

It is inconceivable to me that a state run by Republicans whose ideology and campaign contributors incline them towards underfunding and even selling off state parks is going to embark upon a land acquisition binge any time soon. And what limited land acquisition by the state we may be fortunate enough to see will likely follow the Government Canyon example of public-private partnerships -- where the Trust for Public Land, and other private organizations, were instrumental in assembling what is now a showpiece of the state parks system.

So, for the foreseeable future, private land trusts and local initiatives such as San Antonio's Proposition 1 appear to be the only substantial hope for preserving undeveloped land. Of course, I would love to be proved wrong on this.

December 15, 2006

In the aftermath of the final of 30 Democratic victories/Republican defeats of the 2006 congressional elections, political pundits of all stripes have expressed their thoughts on the how and why of Ciro Rodriguez's surprisingly large victory.

The San Antonio Express-News has a summary from yesterday, with emphasis on the unexpected Democratic lead amongst early voters.

Express-News columnist Jaime Castillo calls the results, even given the anti-GOP political atmosphere they came admist, "the equivalent of a political earthquake."

Texas Monthly's Paul Burka claims that criticism by some national Republicans of Bonilla's campaign is misguided, and that instead Bonilla was hurt by the nature of the district, in which he had no long-term future, his support for building a fence on the border, and the great campaign run by the DCCC in support of Rodriguez.

Time magazine, relying heavily on quotes from "longtime Republican consultant and analyst" Royal Masset, suggests the reason Bonilla lost was immigration issues and Republican complacency.

The Hotline strongly implies that Bonilla's harsh stance on immigration issues did him in with many Latino voters.

Houston Chronicle political writer R. G. Ratcliffe goes against the grain, saying that "the field may be fertile for Bonilla to try a comeback in 2008." I notice, though, that he says "try" rather than "make."

National progressive political blogger Chris Bowers at MyDD, who had disparaged Rodriguez's chances of victory as late as mid-day election day, posted a "Glad to Be Wrong Thread" later that night. He then converts from over-pessimism to over-optimism, saying: "With Latinos making up [more] than 50% of the registered voters in this district, this one isn't going back to Republicans for a long time."

Progressive blogger Charles Kuffner in Houston writes in Kuffsworld about several factors that contributed to Ciro's victory. In the end, though, he boils it down to this: "Plain and simple, the Democrats wanted this one more."

Along those same lines, a pair of conservative bloggers at Right of Texas discuss reports of exceptionally low turnout in heavily Republican preceincts in Bexar County and says "Where were you people?!" Both apparently came from elsewhere in Texas to work for the Bonilla re-election campaign, and claim it was exceptionally well run. They heap praise on the operation, saying that it was a "tightly run ship," "very focused," "had a great contingency plan", and that the campaign manager was "an experienced war horse" and "had his stuff together."

After reading all this commentary and analysis, though, I think I may have fortuitously stumbled onto a major factor in Rodriguez's victory and Bonilla's defeat. The pair at 'Right of Texas' note that Bonilla's campaign manager is a former Washington state legislator and that much of the staff came from Minnesota. This might seem interesting but not particularly relevant--but then one of these two activists writes, "I was surprised by how incredibly Latino the district was."

December 13, 2006

Ciro Rodriguez, the voters of the 23rd congressional district of Texas, and everyone who helped out won a great victory yesterday. And with that win, Democrats knock off Henry Bonilla, who went in one week from labelling Rodriguez as a terrorist-supporter, to reportedly making a gracious concession call, where he offered to work with Rodriguez during the transition.

We went down to the victory rally at the packed Harlandale Civic Center on the south side last night, expecting possibly a long evening. As it turns out, though, the margin was larger than anyone's highest expectations, and we were there barely an hour before the race was called and the candidate had made his triumphant entrance and victory speech, proclaiming that he would be very proud to help make history by casting a vote for the first female Speaker of the House.

If we'd been reading Burnt Orange Report, the night may have been even shorter, since their expert knowledge of the voting returns across the district allowed them to call the race twenty minutes or so ahead of the AP.

To continue my brief foray into the world of YouTube, I have a couple minute segment of Ciro's victory speech last night.

Also, my wife and partner here, while out on campaign trail yesterday, decided to become an amateur reporter for a day and captured a couple brief interviews with congressman Joe Baca of California and former congressional candidate John Courage, both of whom had joined Rodriguez on the final GOTV effort yesterday. Here they are answering the simple question, "Why are you here today campaigning for Ciro Rodriguez?"

First, Rep. Joe Baca, who represents the San Bernardino area, a few dozen miles inland from Los Angeles in southern California.

Next, John Courage, who unfortunately lost his race to GOP Rep. Lamar Smith in November. (His district stretches from northern San Antonio to the Hill Country to the Austin area. The heavily conservative area around Kerrville that the Supreme Court removed from Bonilla and Rodriguez's district was added to Smith and Courage's district, making Courage's uphill run against Smith much tougher than it was originally.)

I doubt we'll be doing much more video here at B and B in the near future, but these snippets will serve as mementos of an amazing campaign that we were fortunate to play a small role in. Congratulations to congressman-elect Ciro Rodriguez and to all of his supporters!

December 12, 2006

My wife was out volunteering with Ciro Rodriguez's campaign today as voters went to the polls and got these pictures at Clark High School in northwest San Antonio. We also have a couple brief video interviews with Rep. Joe Baca and John Courage, but are having some technical difficulties with them at the moment. Hopefully later we'll have those available. Also, hopefully later there will be some good election results!

Here are the pictures from left to right and top row to bottom row. (1) Ciro Rodriguez and his daughter, Xochil. (2) Ciro and John Courage, who ran against Rep. Lamar Smith in the November elections. (3) Ciro, Xochil, and Rep. Joe Baca of California. (4) Rep. Joe Baca. (5) Ciro talks to the media. (6) campaign staffer Chris Wayne Strader and Brian English working the phones back at the office.